Ajax falter against NEC

Ajax missed out on the chance to take top spot in the Eredivisie after they were held to a 2-2 draw by NEC at the Amsterdam Arena on Sunday.

The hosts got off to a good start when Arek Milik gave them the lead on 16 minutes, but Ernest Faber’s side restored parity soon afterwards through Navarone Foor.

An own-goal from Rens van Eijden early in the second appeared to settle the match, but the Amsterdam giants were denied victory at the death as Christian Santos popped up with an 83rd-minute equaliser.

Frank de Boer’s men remain in second place, one point behind PSV, who drew 1-1 with Heerenveen the previous day, while NEC remain in eighth place.

Elsewhere, Feyenoord recorded a third straight win in the league after they ran out 2-0 victors over Vitesse at the GelreDome.

Second-half goals from Michiel Kramer (73′) and Bilal Basacikoglu (88′) secured all three points for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men as they climbed above AZ to take third position, with Vitas just holding onto the final Europa League spot in seventh.

Meanwhile, Heracles gave their European challenge a shot in the arm as they came from a goal down to beat rock-bottom Cambuur 3-1 at the Polman Stadion.

SSC took a surprise lead through Jack Byrne on 32 minutes, but the visitors hit back in the second half with goals from Wout Weghorst (49′), Robin Gosens (77′) and Iliass Bel Hassani (90′) completing the comeback win.

The Heraclieden find themselves in sixth spot after halting a run of four straight defeats, as Marcel Keizer’s team remain rooted to the foot of the table, nine points adrift of safety.

Earlier in the day, ADO Den Haag edged closer to the top-half of the table as they came from two goals down to clinch a 2-2 draw against Utrecht at Stadion Galgenwaard.

The hosts appeared to be cruising at half-time after Sebastien Haller opened the scoring on 23 minutes before Ruud Boymans doubled their lead on 42 minutes.

But Henk Fraser’s side hit back quickly in the second half, with Danny Bakker halving the deficit on 48 minutes and Mike Havenaar then restoring parity 15 minutes later to earn a share of the spoils.

The Hague outfit moved up to 11th place on 34 points, nine clear of the bottom-three, while Erik ten Hag’s men remain fifth in the standings.